


The Room Down the Hall

by spaceconversii



Series: The Room Down the Hall [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst, Hostage Situations, Kidnapping
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-28
Updated: 2019-06-04
Packaged: 2019-10-18 00:56:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17571230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spaceconversii/pseuds/spaceconversii
Summary: Adrien and Marinette take a nice walk outside but someone else is there





	1. Exposition

The sun rose over Paris, Parisians were waking up, getting home from the night shift, or just sleeping in. That is what Adrien Agreste was doing, he normally woke up at 6:30 to eat, stretch, and get ready. The past weeks, however, had been filled with modeling and extracurricular classes, running around with all the expectations that came with being the son of Gabriel Agreste. He slept way later than he normally would. The time flew when he was asleep, and soon it was 7:50, Adrien bolted awake. Oh no, school started in 40 minutes. He jumped off his bed and threw on his clothes, tripping across the room as he tried to put his legs in his pants, stumbling and hitting his head on the wall.  
“Ow,” Adrien rubbed his head where it had gotten hit.  
“Wow, Adrien, you really fumbled that one.” Plagg flew up to him, all while eating a whole wedge of camembert.  
“Thanks, Plagg,” Adrien stood up and put on his pants, “I totally slept in, way too much. I need to go to school or else father will be upset at me.”  
“I know I know, I thought of waking you up but I know how tired you’ve been lately.”  
Adrien ran to the bathroom, quickly splashed his face with water, grabbed his school bag and ran downstairs.  
Stopping by his dad’s door, he peeked in. His father was standing by the editing board and working. Adrien let out a deep sigh, walking in the opposite direction.   
“What’s wrong?” Plagg whispered from Adrien’s bookbag.  
“Nothing, its fine.”  
Adrien called his bodyguard and he got into the car to be driven to school.  
The drive had always been short but today it felt like years to get there. He kept checking his phone and tapping his fingers on the door. If he was late the school would call his father and maybe the school would give him detention. As the car pulled up Adrien was already opening the door, and starting to sprint towards the main doors. 8:27, he would make it into class if he ran.  
“Watch out!” Someone yelled next to him, but before he knew it he was on the ground, the wind knocked out of him. Papers and elbows were everywhere, the other person got up first to help him up, it was Marinette, one of Adrien’s friends from school.  
“A-Adrien… I'm so sweaty! I MEAN SORRY!” Marinette extended her hand to help him up and Adrien took it, “I'm really clumsy,” she said sheepishly, reminding Adrien of the first time he met Ladybug, Ladybug had said the exact same thing to Chat Noir when they were first saving Paris.  
Adrien laughed, “Its fine, it's not every day you get to see a rare, flying Marinette.”  
Marinette and Adrien laughed together while picking up their papers, as Adrien laughed, but his voice sounded odd, flat almost.  
“Are you okay?” Marinette walked with him into the school courtyard, “You sound really sick,”

“Its fine I just didn't sleep well last night,” Adrien started up the steps as Marinette walked by him. Marinette didn't believe him but she didn't want to push it, and she was already aesthetic that her crush was walking and talking with her to class.

The bell rang the moment Adrien grabbed the door handle, they both sighed deeply, knowing they would have to talk to the principal about their tardiness. They walked into class toward their seats, they walked in while the teacher’s back was turned so she did not see their late arrival, but Lila, who was sitting in back, had a different plan,   
“Hey, Marinette!” she shouted from her seat, Adrien and Marinette were frozen, slowly they turned to face the teacher who had turned during the loud interjection.  
“Mr. Agrest, Miss Dupain-Cheng, why are you two late?” the teacher stared at them, Marinette's face turning bright red, she stammered, “..oh...uh…”

“Well? Tardiness is not acceptable in my class, both of you are going to have to see the principal about after-school detention.”

Adrien sighed and began to go to the door solemnly, not pleased about his sudden loss of the little free/sleep time he had. Marinette saw his sour face and piped up to the teacher, “Actually miss, it was my fault Adrien was late, I accidentally bumped into him and dropped all my things, he had to help me and that's why he was late,”

Lila piped up from the class, “Accidentally,” she put air quotes around the word and it was laced with sarcasm, earning a stabbing glare from Marinette.

“Well, in that case, Adrien sit down, thank you for being a responsible gentleman, but Marinette you will need to see the Principal, maybe you can practice balance there.”  
“Yes miss,” Marinette walked out the class steadily, and Adrien watched as she went away.  
Marinette is such a good friend, he thought to himself.

The school day passed with Nino shaking Adrien awake many times, Adrien excusing himself to the bathroom to splash water on his face, and whining from Plagg, the kwami hiding in his backpack.  
“Geez kid, I know missing school is making a bad reputation or whatever for your father but surely staying home is better than falling asleep the whole day.”  
“I don't know Plagg, my father would never let me stay home, even if I wanted to I would never have the time to ask him,” Adrien dried his face with a paper towel, looking into his dead-eyed reflection.  
“You need to take some time to yourself sometime kid,” Plagg ate a slice of cheese, “yknow, self-care?”  
Adrien just smiled and gestured for Plagg to go into his backpack, the kwami flew into his hiding spot, and Adrien walked back to his class.  
When the school bell rang Adrien rushed to talk to Marinette, he wanted to thank her for getting him after detention. He spotted her walking into a classroom with a mop and cleaning supplies, she was having trouble getting a door open with all the stuff in her arms. He approached her calmly and reached past her, opening the door.   
“Need a hand?”   
“WHAT-” The sudden voice right by Marinette's ear frightened her so much she threw everything she was holding into the air, a dirty towel landing on top of Adrien’s head.  
“Adrien! You’re pretty. I MEAN, you scared me!”  
Adrien laughed and took off the towel, and once again helping Marinette grab the stuff she dropped.  
“I'm sorry I just meant to tell you how thankful I am that you took the fall for me today.”  
“Oh, it was nothing!” Marinette giggled sweetly and carried the cleaning stuff into the empty classroom and Adrien followed, “You should get home and get some desk, I mean rest.”  
“But I feel bad for making you get detention, I should help you,”  
“Oh no, Adrien it's fine. My parents are fine with me getting detention, and besides, I had nothing to do today anyway.”  
“Well at least let me repay you somehow,”  
Suddenly, Marinette felt a bang of courage and breathed in, bracing for what she was about to do, “Well if you’re free Saturday night, we could go see a movie, id pay for snacks. Alya and Nino could also come,”  
“Saturday?”  
“I mean... it's fine if you can't… I know you’re pretty busy a-and-”  
“Saturday sounds great, how about 6 pm?”  
Marinette nodded and blushed, “6 pm”  
Then, Adrien felt his phone in his right pocket start to vibrate, he pulled it out and sighed, “I'm sorry, it's my father,”  
Marinette just nodded and ushered him away, Adrien looked back and mouthed “text me” as he answered the phone and walked out.  
Marinette was left in the room alone, leaning on the mop and partly in shock of what she just did.  
Adrien walked down the steps of the school to get into his car as he spoke with his father.  
“A photo shoot with the magazine photographer immediately after that and then you need to make an appearance at a charity after that, I would attend with you but I am occupied with more important things.”  
“I-”  
“Oh and Adrien, you need to meet with a new writer I am hiring for the magazine and do an interview,”  
“Father I-”  
“Don't forget all of that and Natalie will be cleaning and ironing all your clothes today, she noticed you looked a little messy today”  
“Um-”  
“I had your bodyguard pack fresh clothes for you too because there's no way I would allow you out looking like you do now.”  
“Yes, Father I also-”  
“Piano, Chinese, and fencing lessons tomorrow as well, you won't miss those.”  
Adrien sighed, officially giving up, “Yes Father”  
The line went dead without any goodbye, but again, Adrien was used to it  
Finally, the day had ended and the blonde-haired boy was barely dragging his feet upstairs to bed, falling asleep the moment his head hit the pillow, thankful no Akuma attacks had happened that day.

“Adrien, my baby boy,” a sweet voice called, Adrien could recognize that voice anywhere.  
“Mom?” he looked around, searching for the source of his mother's sweet melancholy tone.  
“Adrien come to momma,”  
“Mom!” Adrien called out, crying now for her. “Mom where are you? I need you,”  
“Adrien your momma misses you so much, I love you, dear, come to me,”  
Finally, he saw her, as beautiful as ever, he ran to her to hug her, she was all the way across the long hallway, he tripped a few times in his hurried ways, “Mom! Mom! I missed you,” tears streaming down his face, he ran to the figure, but before he could reach her she disappeared.  
Now Adrien was alone in the dark hallway, “Momma?” Adrien choked on his sobs, suddenly he heard an evil voice he had heard before,   
“Chat Noir, you can't escape,”  
Hawkmoths voice echoed through the hall, resonating in Adriens ears, he tried to cover his ears but the voice was still loud and clear, stuck in his mind.  
Adrien woke with a jolt and tears in his eyes, Plagg was awakened by the sudden movement and looked at Adrien worriedly, “Hey, are you okay?”  
Adrien stayed silent for a few seconds, catching his breath and waiting for his tears to dry, “Just a bad dream,”  
“You know Adrien, Kwamis believe that bad dreams are caused by stress and an unclear head, and maybe a little bit of prophecy but whatever,” Plagg hovered by Adrien's face, “You should probably try to calm down before you go to sleep.”  
Adrien walked toward his window and looked outside, seeing the dark, peaceful street and practically feeling the cold air, “A walk outside sounds good, actually.”  
Plagg flew to Adrien's face, “Well just say the magic word and we’ll be out of here,”  
“Actually Plagg,” Adrien opened his window, “I think I need to be alone for a bit,”  
And with that, before Plagg could protest, Adrien threw a cube of cheese toward his kwami and escaped through the window.


	2. Bad Dreams in Paris

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette notices Adrien walking alone at night, concerned, she goes after him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about not updating this story sooner! But I'm sure you'll enjoy this one ;)

Meanwhile above the bakery, Marinette was dreaming of Adrien, when it was interrupted. Suddenly, she was in a dark room, it was cold and unforgiving. Then, she heard a voice that shot through her body and killed any last feelings of joy and contentment. “Ladybug, you can no longer hide,” It was Hawkmoth, and Marinette saw him, he was standing across from her, smiling. Marinette trembled in fear as she saw who was standing next to him, Chat Noir was standing by his side and grinning a terrifying grin.

She awoke with a shock, not wanting to wake tiki, she climbed silently out of bed and looked out her window to attempt to calm herself. Surprisingly she saw Adrien, her school crush, walking down the road.  
“What is he doing? It’s so late…” Marinette whispered to herself, quickly grabbing a blanket from her bed and running downstairs to meet the boy in the street. She ran out without getting shoes on, she didn’t even notice her feet were cold until she caught up to Adrien.  
“Adrien?”  
The sound made Adrien jump and he turned around hurriedly, “Oh, I didn't mean to scare you,” Marinette walked up to him, “Why are you out here?”  
Adrien sighed, looking down, “Just clearing my head, I had a bad dream,” Marinette noticed him shivering and offered her blanket, putting it around his shoulders.”  
Adrien blushed and they started to walk down the street. Adrien had always known how kind Marinette was but she seemed like a guardian angel at this point.  
“It was about my mom, she was calling to me, I miss her so much.” Adrien looked at Marinette, “You remind me of her, in some way. She had the same light in her eyes that you do.”  
Marinette started blushing intensely.  
“The dream was so vivid, I thought it was real. Then, Hawkmoth interrupted it,”  
Marinette frowned, Hawkmoth was in her dream too.  
“I don't want to be akumatized, but I heard one of the akumas was just a kid who had a bad dream, I was so scared.”  
As they walked, neither of them noticed a car behind them, slowing and approaching silently.  
“Yeah, it's pretty awful, I had a dream somewhat like that, it's awful, that's when-”  
The car doors opened, about five men piled out, guns in hand, Adrien was shocked and Marinette’s heart started beating one thousand beats per minute, she grabbed Adrien's hand and pulled him into an alley that was next to them but men were at the end of the alley too. They were trapped.  
“Give us all your money,” One of the men said, branding a pistol, “no one will get hurt if you do what we say.”  
Both of them stayed silent until Adrien piped up, “We don't have anything, we were just going for a walk…”  
The men frowned, realizing that neither of them had bags or pockets for that matter.  
“What do we do Shane?”  
“Shut up!” The man yelled, frightening Marinette and making her tightly squeeze Adrien's hand, which she hasn't let go of yet.  
One of the men piped up from behind Adrien, “Hey wait for a second, isn't this the famous boy? The one from magazines and crap?”  
Shane smiled, eyeing Adrien up and down, “ Why yes it is… how lucky we are,”  
Marinette felt Adrien's hand getting sweaty, she could see his chest rise and fall rapidly.  
“Adrien, go,” Marinette whispered, gesturing to the gap between two men.  
“What?”  
“Now.” Marinette stomped on the guy's foot behind them and pushed Adrien, Adrien started running but stopped when he heard a sharp cry.  
“Adrien go! Leave!” Adrien turned to see Marinette standing still, her feet hovered a little above the floor and one of the men was grabbing her hair, loosening one of the pigtails.  
The men closed the gap and they closed in, one grabbing each of Adrien's arms, “Hey! Let us go!” Adrien struggled but to no avail.  
Marinette threw her head back, remembering some old self-defense taught by her father, hitting the man behind her and he dropped her, she scrambled up again but one skinny and tattooed arm grabbed her and slammed her into the brick wall.  
Adrien watched in horror as she crumpled to the ground, he struggled against the restraints the men were now tying around his arms. “Marinette! Marinette please,” Adrien watched her figure, now still and small, waiting, hoping for some kind of movement, something to signify that she was okay. Then, the smallest movement of her back emerged, she was breathing, slowly and shallowly. Adrien sighed with relief and stopped struggling. The men then put an old sweaty shirt that was taken off one of the followers and tied it over his head. Adrien couldn’t see but he could feel the leader guide him back to the vehicle and place him down, he heard muffled voices and felt the vehicle shake as people got on, he breathed heavy, knowing Plagg couldn't get him out of the situation, trying to untie himself. He felt someone next to him, but he knew who it was, they smelled of faint cinnamon and vanilla, It was Marinette. He felt her head limp on his shoulder, that small presence comforted him, although he was still shaking. He felt a pinch in his arm, he could feel his arm go numb and slowly everything turned black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading this! Your comments and Kudos make it all worth it!


	3. New Light

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien wakes up but... where is he?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I left you all hanging for forever, you know how life be sometimes. Please accept this long (?) chapter as an apology. More will come.....soon

“This is Adrien Agreste,” Adrien heard someone next to him say, it took awhile but he finally registered what was going on. The memories of the night flooded back, Adrien felt someone shake his shoulder and he looked up, a man was holding a camera in front of him, his eyes lazily adjusted and he blinked heavily. He looked next to him and saw two men wearing masks, one of them was Shane, Adrien revised the voice. “We have him captive along with his friend,” Adrien fully awoke now, at the mention of Marinette. He looked around but he couldn't see her, and just across from him there was a bright light blinding him.

“Where-” One of the men dug a pistol into the side of Adriens head, causing him to stop his sentence and slightly grimace.

“We demand 15 million Euros at this location by Friday, February 8th. If it's not there when one of our men go, or if anything happens at all, you can find this little model in a ditch,” Shane grabbed Adrien by the hair roughly, “And we wouldn't want that would we?” He sneered, more to Adrien than the camera.  
Adrien looked down, not wanting to cause any more disruption. When they turned off the camera and the lights Adrien could finally look around, he couldn’t see Marinette.  
“Where’s Marinette?” Adrien glared at Shane, “Where did you put her?”  
Shane took off the ski mask and rubbed his face, “This damn mask is really sweaty.” He then gestured to the guy Adrien recognized as the man who slammed Marinette into a wall, his marked arms folded and his face downcast, “Drew, Upload the video to the untraceable account and post it to social medias,”  
Drew nodded and sat in the chair by the computer and began typing.  
"Tell me where she is!" Adrien tried to yell, but his voice was scratchy and his throat felt like it hadn't been used in forever. In the end, he ended up croaking it out, making some of the men in the room laugh.  
“Markus put the boy in the room,” Markus, a big burly guy, his beard reaching his chest, nodded and picked up Adrien like he was some light toy doll. Adrien tried to fight but couldn't break Markus’ grasp, being carried like a sack of flour down a dark and dingy hallway, he looked and tried to remember every possible way to escape should the opportunity arise. Markus finally opened a door to a room at the end of the hall, and dropped Adrien down, and began to walk away. Adrien took the slight chance to get up and run for the door but Markus slammed him down.  
The last thing Adrien heard before the door closed was Markus’ haughty laugh and the shouting of the others in the living room. Slowly Adrien’s eyes adjusted and he could see his surroundings. He was in a somewhat empty room with one small window at the ceiling. Adrien maneuvered his hands that were tied behind him, trying his best to sit down. The room was scattered and messily emptied as if they had just cleaned out this closet before placing them in there. Then, as his eyes adjusted more he saw a small figure at the other corner of the room, Adrien realized who it was and immediately scooted over to her side. Marinette’s face was facing him. Adrien’s heart pulled as he looked at her condition, dried blood was all on the side of her face, her hair, now loosened and messy, was sticking to her face from the blood and some tears. He scooted back and struggled to get his hands in front of him, trying to step through his arms so they were now in front took forever, especially since Adrien was not that flexible. He kept pulling at the ties, and they dug deeper into his skin, he could see a red mark starting to grow around his wrists but he needed to do this. He pushed through the pain of his shoes scraping on his arms and the rope around his wrists. Finally, he was able to have his arms in front, he went back to Marinette's side. He felt her face carefully, brushing some strands of hair out of the way. Adrien could hear her slow and shuddered breaths through the piece of cloth that was stuffed in her mouth. Adrien couldn’t contain his tears as he saw one of his best friends hurt like this. He carefully pulled the cloth out of her mouth, and her breathing was now unmuffled, somewhat soothing.  
Plagg emerged from Marinette's back, “Adrien! Boy am I glad you're okay!” The kwami hugged Adrien's face, “I was keeping Marinette company, also I didn't want to be seen,”  
“Plagg! I thought I left you at home...” Adrien laughed at the sight of his kwami.  
Plagg rolled his eyes, “Like I’d leave your side, I knew something like this would happen,” he then looked nervously around, “Adrien, after you passed out from that thing they gave you, they drove to this place and prepared this room, they were arguing how to go about this hostage situation for a long time, and then once they decided what to do they started preparing…”  
“How long was that? A few hours?”  
Plagg looked at his feet, “Adrien, it's been like two weeks.”  
“TWO WEEKS?” Adrien half whispered half shouted, “How? There's no way I was asleep for two weeks, and Marinette…”  
“I have been helping you two, Marinette has been unconscious the whole time but I do help give her water and food, and you kept coming in and out of consciousness, you would wake up and drink or eat or something but you wouldn't remember anything,”  
“I'm so sorry, I should've been awake. Hasn't it been lonely? Two weeks?”  
Plagg looked over to Marinette and sighed, “Adrien, I think it's time you know, we've been talking and we wanted you two to figure out yourselves or through gaining trust but we don't think there's any way out of this problem without knowing the truth,” Adrien’s face was riddled with confusion, “Tiki, come on out,”   
Adrien saw as a little red figure, about the same size as Plagg, emerged from behind Marinette.  
“Is that… A kwami?” Adrien’s mouth hung agape and Tiki smiled.  
“Hi Adrien, I'm Marinette and Ladybug’s kwami, so I guess that means that Marinette is Ladybug,”

“Marinette?....Ladybug?” Adrien stared at his friend, not believing what he had just heard.  
“Yeah…” Plagg started cautiously, “We didn't want you to figure out like this, and if Marinette wakes up then we want to try to keep it from her as well, if she really needs to know then we will not hesitate to tell her but we're trying to protect this and take it carefully,”  
“Wait, if Marinette is Ladybug, and I am Chat Noir, and we are both in here, then what's going on in Paris? Hasn't anyone been akumatized? They have no one to protect them, no one to cleanse the akumas…”  
“Strangely enough, I would imagine everyone is under immense amounts of stress and anger after you two got kidnapped, but no one has been akumatized, and the media is focusing on you, Adrien, so they aren't concerned about the sudden lack of superheroes.” Tiki explained carefully, “Even though you and Ladybug are gone, Master Fu has given Rena Rouge her miraculous just to keep the fear at bay, the media might not notice the disappearance but others will, I don't know for sure if Rena knows that you and Marinette are Chat noir and Ladybug but I'm sure master fu will know what to do.”  
Adrien furrowed his brow, “Can’t you two go through walls and stuff? Maybe you can go tell Master Fu where we are!”  
“That's the thing Tiki and I are most worried about, watch,” Plagg proceed to try to fly through the wall and bounced off, “See? We don't know what's going on but something is keeping us in here.”  
“Why don't I transform into chat noir then?” Adrien held out his hands, gesturing for a transformation.  
“Adrien, all those drugs the men put in you to keep you knocked out probably damaged your body. I heard the men talking while they set up the room, they accidentally gave you too much tranquilizer, enough for three adults. We’re surprised you even woke up... ” Tiki explained, holding Plagg back from completing Adrien's wish, “Transformations are already draining and require a lot of energy, you shouldn't put your body through that, and as for Marinette, her head…”  
“Okay, so what do we do?”  
The three sit in silence for a bit, pondering what the next step could possibly be to escaping this.  
Adrien's eyes drift to a corner of the room he hasn't really seen yet. Piles of clothes and garbage sit there, but next to it, a box-shaped instrument pokes out, Adrien scoots over and investigates. As he pulls off a tarp that was covering the item, Tiki and Plagg stop talking to find out what he is doing. Once the tarp is removed, Adrien pulls it out of its hiding spot, the little amount of light reveals an old television. The television is old and heavy, maybe as big as Adrien's torso, he would be lucky if it even turned on or had any channels.  
“I hope this works,” Adrien sighed and carefully pressed the on the button. The television lit up, bringing light to the room and almost blinding Adrien. He then pressed a channel up button until he was met by a noise, a news channel. Adrien watched as his and Marinette’s faces flashed across the screen.  
“The search continues for model and actor, son of Gabriel Agreste, Adrien Agreste. Marinette Dupain-Cheng, one of Adrien’s friends, is also missing, although we have suspicions, we do not know if the two disappearances are related-”  
Adrien changed the channel, “Today has marked two weeks since-”  
Another.  
“Marinette Dupain-Cheng was-”  
Adrien and Marinette's faces were plastered on every channel.  
Adrien stopped flipping the channels and just settled on the news channel that he knew.  
“We have not received any information for two weeks after Adrien Agreste and Marinette Dupain-Cheng were first discovered as missing, until now.” Adrien looked up and saw a fuzzy image of him in Pajamas and with Marinette’s blanket around him, Marinette walking beside him, “this image was sent in by someone who prefers to be anonymous, but in the image you can clearly see the two teenagers engaged in a conversation and Adrien has Marinette’s blanket around him, both teens are in their PJs and Marinette is seen as barefoot-” Adrien looked over to his friend and noticed for the first time that she was barefooted.  
“-the police were investigating the area where the picture was taken and have found Marinette's blanket and unknown blood on the ground, DNA results will come back to determine if the blood is, in fact, Marinette's or Adrien’s.”  
“Adrien, Marinette, Alya and I are all good friends.” Adrien saw his best friend, Nino, on the television, his eyes looked tired and red, “I don't know what's going on but I'm really worried.”  
“Adrien or Marinette,” Alya, who was next to Nino, finally spoke up after looking up from the floor, “If you guys are seeing this please, come back, we miss you.”  
“I wish,” Adrien said as he attempted to take off the ties on his hands, Plagg and Tiki tried to help but they aren't getting anywhere.  
“We miss our daughter so much, and her little friend Adrien,” Marinette’s parents were now on screen, both of them had tears in their eyes. “We’ve been talking with Adrien’s father and were trying to get a reward up for any evidence or help of our children’s safe return.” Tom looked away from the camera and the audio switched.  
“If anyone, I mean anyone, knows the whereabouts of my son” Adrien looked up and saw his father, he looked like he hadn't slept in days, he had never seen his father in these conditions, “or that of his friend, Marinette, please, tell us right away, I-” Tears started to well in Gabriel's eyes and the camera cut off.  
The screen showed a person whispering into Nadja’s ear, her eyes widened as she spoke to the camera, “The results have come in about the blood found in the alley, and it tested positive as Marinette’s blood, so we don't know what to expe-”  
Shouts and sounds were heard from behind the camera and the newscasters face look somewhat excited or shocked.  
“There's been a change, a video has recently surfaced about the disappearances, we’re going to see it now,”  
Adrien watched, horrified, as the video popped up, a man was holding a piece of paper saying “From the rebels of Paris” and as the paper went down it showed Adrien, unconscious as Shane introduced the situation, Adrien could hear shouts and cheers from the ben in the other room as they watched the video broadcast.  
Adrien watched as he woke up on the television and looked around. Adrien then saw himself for the first time, his hair was greasy and unkempt, sunken green eyes blinked heavily and his shirt was dirtied and ripped in some places.  
Adrien watched as Shane listed his demands and threatened Adrien's life, once the video was over they showed the newscaster's face, her mouth was covered by her hand and her other hand was making a cutting motion to go to commercial. She then stood up and left, in the video you could hear many people talking and asking behind the camera as the screen remained empty.  
The shouts of the gang outside were extremely loud, they were celebrating their sudden ripple left in the community. Adrien's head began to hurt and he rested against the wall, “Well, Tiki, Plagg, what should we do?”  
“Get some rest Adrien, Plagg and I will figure this out,” Tiki flew with Plagg over to the other corner and they began to whisper.  
Adrien laid down by Marinette and closed his eyes, he was asleep before he could even count to ten.  
“Adrien,” a soft voice called out, echoing through and bouncing off walls.  
“Get up”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Please leave Kudos and Comments, those little things keep me going.


	4. Demands

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette slowly starts to get better, that head injury doesn't look too good though... Shane raises his demands :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's soon! Please enjoy this work!

“Get up”  
A rough jolt made Adrien awake from his temporary rest.  
Shane and Markus were in the room, and a man Adrien had yet to learn the name of was pulling him up by the arm. Another man was already holding Marinette, her eyes were open but she wasn't saying anything, she just looked down at the floor, her eyes constantly zoning out, her body couldn't stop shivering and she was swaying unsteadily. The man behind her frowned as he tried to help her stand up straight. Glaring at Shane, Adrien spat in his directions “What do you possibly want with us?”  
Shane walked forward and cracked his knuckles, “I'm making a little movie and you two would be the perfect actors.”  
Adrien was thrown into a chair and tied there. The man holding Marinette however, gently sat her down and knelt to her level, cautiously tying her up and helping her stay steady.   
“Henry, hurry up,” Shane growled at the man tying Marinette up, “Stop acting like its some fragile thing,”  
The men in the room laughed but Henry finished tying, all while frowning at what Shane had said.  
Passing out masks, Shane announced the purpose of the video, “So I'm going to do the talking, we’re raising our demands, and now we have both kids we’re going to create an even bigger impact, Henry,” Shane nodded at him while he carefully put the mask on, “The girl will be off screen until I say to bring her on, this will certainly shock the audience, plus the girls appearance is frightening and they will be willing to pay the 100 million demand”  
“100 million?” Adrien piped up from his chair, “My father won't pay that! I don't even think he has that much! Much less Marinette’s parents, they own a little bakery!”  
“Well then they will have to say goodbye to you two,” Shane walked up to Adrien and Marinette, Marinette was lifting her head to look at him and glaring, tears glistening in her eyes, her neck movements were wobbly and jerky, “If they don't meet our demands in twelve days time then we’re going to have to show them we’re dead serious.”   
The word ‘dead’ lingered in the air and hung over the two kids, Adrien knew in the back of his head that this is what they were going to do if they weren't given the money, but he hadn’t dwelled on it, he looked over to Marinette and saw her shuddering breaths rise and fall.  
As the camera was set up and masks put on, the men discussed among themselves and made jokes, except Henry.   
Henry stood behind Marinette, he stayed silent the whole time, occasionally frowning at things the men joked about and looking cautiously at Marinette. Before the filming started, Markus picked up the chair Marinette was in and roughly took her to the side. Henry flinched as that happened and rushed over to the chair, steadying Marinette to the sudden jolt and standing by her. Markus glared at him and walked off.  
“Markus, you're going to have to hold the girls head up because she's just a little out of it.”  
Henry nodded solemnly and stood slightly to the left of Marinette, Markus was on her right, the stench of him reached even Adrien and he watched Marinette worriedly as the cameraman started announcing the start of the filming.  
“3...2...1… go.”  
“Hello people of Paris, we have an announcement to make, and as you know, kids can be a handful, so we will be raising our demands,” Shane cleared his throat and gestured for Henry to bring Marinette, “We demand 100 million by twelve days, more information will follow but for now, just know that we want 100 million, no backsies, no police, or anything. The location for the drop off of these two children will be sent to Gabriel Agreste-” Shane kept talking but Adrien was focusing on Marinette, her head being supported by Markus who roughly held the back of her hair, occasionally her head would loll to far forward and he would jerk it back roughly. Marinette looked so out of it, she wasn’t even focusing on anything, she could barely keep her eyes open with the bright lights shining into them.

“-you already know what will happen if you don't meet our demands, so hurry hurry.”

The lights shut off and the men cheered and laughed, clapping each other on the back for their success, Shane took off his mask suddenly and stood on a chair by Adrien. “Okay, guys!” The men started to quiet down and listen to their apparent leader, “we should celebrate!”  
The men cheered louder and clapped for Shane, he clearly enjoyed feeling like some ragtag king, he was smiling an evil sort of smile and his nose was held proudly in the air. His blond hair stuck out of his banner he wore on his forehead, which was greasy and sweaty.  
Shane then gestured for Adrien and Marinette to be taken away, they were untied from the chairs and guided to the room. Marinette was being carried as no one had cut off the zip ties from her feet. They were both placed on the ground in the dirty and dark room and the door slowly closed, muffling the sounds of cheers from the men.

After a few minutes of silence, Adrien broke the silence, “Marinette? Are you awake?” Adrien cautiously approached her.  
A few seconds passed before she answered, her words slurred together and she was quiet, “Adrien?” Marinette turned to him, “What is going on? I don't know where we are.”  
“Remember? There were those men who cornered us in the alley and well they knocked you out and took us, hostage,”  
Marinette let out a deep sigh “oh.” It was all she could manage to say.  
After a few moments of saddened silence, Marinette spoke again, “How long have we been here?”  
“Two weeks,”  
“Two weeks?!” Marinette gawked at Adrien, “How is that possible?”  
“I’ve only been awake about a day or so, I would kind of wake up sometimes and eat the food they gave us, you were given water but you couldn't eat.”  
“Wow,”  
“Yeah,”  
“Are people looking for us?” Marinette twisted her hands around, groggily messing with the zip ties around her wrists.  
“Yeah, everyone is,” Adrien scooted up to the television, “do you want to see?”  
“What?”  
“There's a TV in here, they cleaned out most of the stuff in this room to put us in but I think they either accidentally left this or left it to freak us out.”  
Marinette scooted up to Adrien, looking at the small television screen as Adrien turned it on, the light showed and suddenly, they heard. Marinette’s eyes were glued to the screen, even though she had a raging headache.  
“-Agreste and Dupain-Cheng, if anyone has anything to help these young kids return or knows anything considering their captors, please tell the police immediately. We need them safely returned.”  
The reporter was almost on the verge of tears, Marinette knew her. She had babysat for her daughter on a number of occasions. They were somewhat close.  
“Thank you, Nadja. Now, these kids at Collège Françoise Dupont are banding together to find the two missing teens, a reporter is at the scene,”  
The camera switched to a man standing in the school’s courtyard, “As you can see behind me, kids are gathering on a Saturday to set up groups, search rescues, setting out posters, and going door to door. They seem really intent on finding their friends, they have been doing this since they were announced missing and even after the hostage video came out. I am now going to interview a few of these kids,”  
The reporter walked up to a girl with short, blonde hair. She had a large stack of posters in her arms. “So, Rose, Why are you gathering here today?”  
Rose’s quiet voice spoke into the microphone, “Marinette and Adrien are my friends. And I know either of them would do the same for me,” Rose then walked off, handing out stacks to her group.  
Alya was across the courtyard and sending off people to search, her hair was up in a messy bun, some curls spilled out onto her face and around her eyes, her eyes. They were once brown and bright, now, to Marinette, they looked more grey and muted. Marinette couldn't stop shaking when she saw her best friend like this. Adrien felt her shaking beside him and put his arms around her, although they were tied, he made it work. Marinette was surprised Adrien, her crush was touching her but she took the comfort and laid her head on his chest, just now starting to cry at how much she missed everyone. Her tears made her headache worse but she couldn’t stop, she was scared, and in pain, and she got Adrien into all this mess.  
“Alya! The hostage video does not include your friend Marinette, what do you have to say about that?”  
Alya sighed and turned to the camera, now the camera was close to her face Marinette could see the details of her tired-tear stained face. The rims of her eyes were red from tears and her face was flushed, making her freckles stand out even more. She looked like she hadn’t slept in days.  
“I don’t know why the video doesn't have her but I know she’s okay, she’s gonna be okay, she has to be okay” Alya looked around, biting her lip to try to prevent herself from crying, “Marinette is a strong, smart girl. Maybe the video didn't have her for their own reasons, but there's no way that she-”  
Alya swallowed hard, looking down. Nino saw this all happening and approached her, putting his arm around her and shooing the camera away, “get lost dudes, she doesn't want to answer any of your questions right now.”  
The camera backed off and so did the reporter but they didn't leave. They hovered around them, like vultures waiting for their prey. Then, someone shouted from Alya’s group, everyone was staring at her phone.  
“Alya! Nino! Get over here!”  
“Chloe not right now.”  
“It's another hostage video of Adrien!” Chloe held up her phone and the camera panned to the screen, showing the video.  
Alya and Nino ran over to the phone, Chloe tried her best to extend her arm for everyone to watch, everyone was staring at the little tiny screen that held Adrien and his captors.  
The news channel quickly made half the video the hostage video and the other half the students, they wanted everyone to see.  
“What is Adrien looking at? He’s looking off-screen, not right at the camera like last time.” Chloe brushed some hair out of her face as she squinted at the video.   
“Its Marinette! She’s okay!” Nino put his hand to his mouth and wiped the tears from his girlfriend’s face, “Babe, she's okay.”  
Alya was silent, she licked her already chapped lips and pointed at Marinette, “look, all the blood on her face.”  
The students kept watching the video, whispers arose between them, “Did he say 100 million?” “Why does Marinette look like that?” “why is that guy holding her head up?”  
Once the video ended, the news cut out, straight to commercial.  
Adrien let go of Marinette and leaned forward to turn the television off. The two were silent for a bit, staring at the black screen, unmoving. Then, Marinette started to sway, her eyes went unfocused for a bit about Adrien caught her before she fell, “You should lay down, we both should.”  
Marinette nodded and scooted over to the wall, laying down and closing her eyes. She didn't even try to get comfortable before she fell asleep.  
“Poor kid,” Plagg flew up next to Adrien, “that head of hers must hurt…”  
“Yeah, but everything will be okay so don’t you worry, Adrien” Tiki patted the boy’s knee, trying to comfort him, but Adrien was too busy trying to think of what to do next.  
Adrien leaned against a wall and closed his eyes and before he knew it he was forgetting where he was and dreaming of somewhere else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Support, especially this month, is seriously so important to me!


End file.
